ANDREW SHORTALL | staff writer
What do people think of when they hear Associated Student Body (ASB)? Is it the familiar organization from high school that helped organize a dance or the entire undergraduate population? Or could it be the peer-elected student government office?
Well, Azusa Pacific University’s ASB student government office wants to clear up the confusion by distinguishing between the associated student body and the student government officials by changing the name of ASB to the Student Government Association. Students are encouraged to participate in the voting that will decide on the change Tuesday, March 3 through Monday, March 16.
“It becomes very confusing when you’re asking if ASB is the 4,200 students or the 28 officers [the student body] elected to represent them to the administration,” sophomore business and theology major and university senator for ASB Kyle Cleveland said.
According to Cleveland, most student bodies have changed their names to a student government or council to better reflect their purpose.
“I think people are realizing ASB is a high school name and does not sound professional and collegiate,” Cleveland said.
However, a few schools like Point Loma, Biola and Cal Baptist still use the ASB title, Cleveland reports.
The campuses’ student government office believes keeping the title ASB, and making it lowercase, in reference to the general undergraduate population and renaming the school’s elected body the Student Government Association (SGA) will offer more clarity to the students about what the student government actually does.
“We have freshman come in every single year who automatically associate ASB with high school Associated Student Bodies, and that directly correlates us with a programming body that plans events, and that’s absolutely not what our purpose and our mission is,” senior graphic design major and ASB President Brice Myers said.
Cleveland brought the name-change proposal to APU after being impressed by another school’s effective naming of their student government office. He brought the idea here, and teamed up with Myers to try and get this idea introduced to the student body and their elected officials.
This name change is not as easy as it may seem though. The change requires a change to the constitution, which carries stipulations with it.
First, the bill needs to pass through the senate, which it unanimously did. Secondly, 40 percent of the student body needs to vote on the bill, and two-thirds of the 40 percent need to vote yes. Myers refered to getting 40 percent of the student body to vote on the bill as a “tall order,” but thinks its possible.
APU is comprised of approximately 4,200 students; meaning approximately 1,800 students are needed to vote on the bill, with 1,200 students required to vote yes on the bill for it pass and go into effect.
“I am optimistically cautious just because getting that many students to participate in any event on campus, other than chapel is really difficult,” Myers said.
Students may not see how this name change affects them since they are not apart of the student government, but Cleveland said every student is still affected by the student government.
There is also a time limit on the voting period. There are only ten school days available for students to cast their vote.
Since voting began on Tuesday, March 3 the voting deadline was Monday March 16. If the bill were passed, the change would technically go into effect immediately, but tangibly would not be seen until signs could be changed and students got acclimated to the name change.
Myers says the change would be cheap, the only real cost being to change signs, which would be covered by the ASB fund. If the cost was overwhelming, Myers said they would not have gone through with the bill because it would be taking away from student initiatives, which ASB is dedicated to.
“We thought it was totally worth it because there is really nothing negative that can come from this,” Myers said.
Some students have already voiced their opinion about the proposition of a name change.
“It’s about time really,” senior English major Steven Johndreau said. “I like the rationale behind changing the ambiguous name of ASB.”
Johndreau said he always thought of ASB as a high school organization, which planned events.
ASB hopes the name change also will be a catalyst for conversation between the students and their elected government office.
“We want students to know that we are here for them,” Myers said. “We can get out and shout from the rooftops what we do, but its always more helpful when we have students asking, ‘What do you do? How can I get involved?’”
Myers and Cleveland both believe changing the name from ASB to SGA will produce this effect. Myers believes students are less likely to inquire about what ASB does, since it has a familiar name from high school, even though they may have false impressions of the office.
“A name conveys purpose and if the purpose of our office is not conveyed in our name, most people just stop there,” Cleveland said. “When the purpose of our office is conveyed in our name, I think most students will be able to see the purpose, and the function and want to be apart of it, and they are all invited to be a part of it.”
